Pianist Olga Kern to Perform in Recital at Meany Hall, 3/12

Recognized as one of her generation's great pianists, Olga Kern was born into a family of musicians with direct links to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. In 2001, she became the first woman in over 30 years to receive the Gold Medal at the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and subsequently her career has brought her to many of the world's most important venues. With her vivid stage presence, passionately confident musicianship, and extraordinary technique, the young Russian pianist continues to captivate fans and critics alike.

Olga Kern performs Thursday, March 12, 2015 at Meany Hall on the University of Washington campus at 7:30pm.

Program:
Beethoven: Variations on the theme by Salieri, WoO 73
Alkan: Etude in the major key op.35 #3, G major.
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 35
Rachmaninoff: 12 preludes from Op. 23 and Op. 32

For tickets, call 206-543-4880, or order online at uwworldseries.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the ArtsUW Ticket Office, located at 1313 NE 41st. Or fax your order to the Ticket Office at 206-685-4141. Tickets are subject to availability. Artists, dates, programs and prices are subject to change. Regular single tickets range from $40-45. Discounts are available for students, seniors (65+), UW Alumni Association members and UW employees. UW student tickets start at $10. Discount tickets are subject to availability.

About Olga Kern - Now recognized as one of her generation's great pianists, Olga Kern's career began with her historic gold-medal winning performance at the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Olga Kern was born into a family of musicians with direct links to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and began studying piano at the age of five.

Ms. Kern is a laureate of many international competitions including her first place win at the first Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at the age of seventeen and has toured throughout her native Russia, Europe, and the United States, as well as in Japan, South Africa, and South Korea.

With her vivid stage presence, passionately confident musicianship and extraordinary technique, the striking young Russian pianist continues to captivate fans and critics alike. Ms. Kern's performance career has brought her to many of the world's most important venues, including the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Salzburger Festspielhaus, La Scala in Milan, Tonhalle in Zurich, Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Châtelet in Paris. She has appeared as a soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, the Bolshoi Theater, the Moscow Philharmonic, London Symphony, St. Petersburg Academic Symphony, Russian National, China National Symphony, Stuttgart State Orchestra, La Scala Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Torino Symphony, and Cape Town Symphony Orchestras. Ms. Kern has also collaborated with the most prominent conductors in the world today, including Valery Gergiev, Leonard Slatkin, Manfred Honeck, Christoph Eschenbach, Yuri Termirkanov, Antoni Wit, Pinchas Zukerman, Marin Alsop, Gian-Carlo Guerrero and James Conlon.

In the 2014-2015 season, Olga will perform with the NHK Symphony in Tokyo and Osaka, the symphonies of Detroit playing all three Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos for an eponymous festival honoring the composer, Nashville, Colorado, Madison, Austin, Mobile, and Santa Rosa, along with the New Mexico Philharmonic and will give recitals in Seattle and Louisville, as well as alongside star American soprano Renée Fleming in Boston and Washington, D.C.

In the 2013-2014 season, Olga performed with the symphonies of Cincinnati, Detroit and Pittsburgh along with the New Mexico Philharmonic and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and presented recital programs in the 92nd Street Y in New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Orange County, California and at the Van Cliburn Foundation. She also performed alongside Vladimir Spivakov and the esteemed Moscow Virtuosi in Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. In the 2012-2013 season, Olga performed with the Symphonies of Nashville, Pittsburgh, Detroit and San Diego and performed in recital in St. Louis, Dallas, and Scottsdale, Arizona and at Lincoln Center in New York City as part of the Cherry Orchard Festival.

In 2013, for a celebration of Rachmaninoff's 140th year, Olga Kern performed all four Piano Concerti and the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini in collaboration with Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestre National De Lyon. Ms. Kern has also performed this special program in South Africa, Warsaw, and with several orchestras across the United States. In 2012 she was invited by director Steven Spielberg to perform for the Shoah Foundation's annual gala in Los Angeles.

Other past seasons in North America have seen Olga perform with the symphonies of Chicago, Houston, St. Louis, Dallas Baltimore, and Vancouver and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. She has presented recital programs in the most esteemed concert halls and alongside artists such as soprano Kathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall and soprano Renee Fleming at Kennedy Center. In February of 2012, Olga made an extensive recital tour of North America with violinist Vladimir Spivakov, and has collaborated with him as conductor on tours with the Moscow Virtuosi and National Philharmonic of Russia.

Recent international appearances have included tours of Austria, Italy and Switzerland with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Maestro Antoni Wit, a tour of Germany with the Czech Philharmonic and Maestro Zdenek Maçal, performances with the orchestras of Academy of La Scala in Bad Kissingen, Copenhagen and Lyon, and recitals in Milan, Paris, Hamburg, Luxembourg, Reykjavik Bucharest and Zagreb. She made her London debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006 followed by her Proms debut in 2008. Ms. Kern has performed recently with the Seoul Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony, and in Mexico, Peru, Columbia, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Chile, Israel as well as the with the Sangat Chamber Music Festival in Mumbai, India. In June of 2002, Olga Kern made an extensive tour of South Africa where she returned to tour again in February of 2005 with her brother, Vladimir Kern, conducting. Ms. Kern was the Artistic Director of the Cape Town Festival in South Africa from 2006 until 2011 and returns there annually.

Ms. Kern was the recipient of an honorary scholarship from the President of Russia in 1996 and is a member of Russia's International Academy of Arts. She studied with Professor Sergei Dorensky at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and Professor Boris Petrushansky at the acclaimed Accademia Pianistica Incontri col Maestro in Imola, Italy. Ms. Kern is also a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Division of the Arts. In 2014 Ms. Kern joined the roster of Steinway & Sons Artists.

In addition to performing, Ms. Kern devotes her time to the support and education of developing musicians. In 2012, Olga and her brother, conductor and composer, Vladimir Kern, co-founded the "Aspiration" foundation whose objective is to provide financial and artistic assistance to musicians throughout the world. Ms. Kern lives in New York City with her son, Vladislav Kern, who studies piano in the Juilliard School's pre-college program.

Ms. Kern's discography includes Harmonia Mundi recordings of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Seaman (2003), a Rachmaninoff recording of Corelli Variations and other transcriptions (2004), a recital disk with works by Rachmaninoff and Balakirev (2005), Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Antoni Wit (2006), Brahms Variations (2007) and a 2010 release of Chopin Piano Sonatas No. 2 and 3 (2010). She was also featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Competition, Playing on the Edge. Most recently, SONY released a recording of Ms. Kern performing the Rachmaninoff Sonata for Violin Cello and Piano with cellist Sol Gabetta.

Free Youth Tickets: The UW World Series offers up to two Free Youth Tickets (ages 5-17 only) with the purchase of a ticket to any Chamber Music or President's Piano Series event. The Free Youth Ticket was created to engage young audiences in classical music, encourage families to share the experience of hearing great music together, and extend our educational experiences from the classroom to the concert hall.

Location and parking: Meany Hall is located on the Seattle campus of the University of Washington, on 15th Avenue NE between NE 40th and 41st Streets. Parking for Meany Hall is available in the Central Parking Garage (entrance at 15th Avenue and 41st Street). On-street metered parking is also available.

Accessibility: The University of Washington is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation contact the Disability Services Office at least ten days in advance at: 206.543.6450/V, 206.543.6452/TTY, 206.685.7264 (FAX), or e-mail at dso@u.washington.edu.

Disability seating with up to three companion seats per disability space is available for all UWWS events. Reservations for disability seating must be made at the time of purchase. Please contact the ArtsUW Ticket Office at 206-543-4880 for specific seating options and availability.

About UW World Series - The UW World Series is one of Seattle's leading performing arts organizations, presenting innovative, provocative, and diverse international artists in music, theater and dance. Over 500 visiting artists from around the world have performed as part of the UWWS. The eclectic mix of programming has given Northwest audiences a broad view of the world of performing arts, from sampling unique cultural traditions to experiencing innovative new works that expand the scope and direction of contemporary performing arts. The UW World Series' mission includes supporting the educational goals of the University of Washington by providing extensive arts learning opportunities for UW students and faculty, area school children and teachers, and members of the community at large.

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